About – Stuart McIntosh

I came to Australia to race the 2000 Olympics for the GB Team and ever since, this has been my home. I am now 38, married, a father of 3 and proud Australian citizen.

As an elite athlete I raced and trained around the world performing at the highest level in my sport and followed strict training programs, completing up to 21 sessions per week to keep my body …and mind at peak performance. I have worked with many coaches, dieticians, sport conditioning coaches & scientists, sport psychologists, physiotherapists and sports doctors.

When my racing career ended my health deteriorated. Exercise was no longer the priority as work and family commitments filled my day. Poor diet and lack of exercise lead to an increase of 20kg in just a couple of years. In my mind I believed I was still an athlete, but my body was far from it. I realised that my health was not something I could take for granted and to achieve the lifestyle I wanted I was going to have to find time for exercise and watch what I ate.

I needed a reason or purpose to start training so I came up with some goals and wrote myself a program. My program has both long and short term goals with personal challenges along the way to stay motivated. I have a clear understanding what it takes to maintain my health and although I take pleasure from food (especially wine and cheese), when I indulge it is included as part my diet program so I don’t feel guilty. I enjoy my program as it gives me the healthy lifestyle I want.

Latest update – July 2014

Currently a stay at home dad for my 3 kids while my wife perseus her career and I am in my 3rd year of full time study (Masters pathway in Urban Planning). After my Olympic Sporting career finished I focused on the legacy of the 2000 Sydney Olympics working as the operation manager at the venue of my sport. I quickly realised that transport access issues, social economic location, sporting access/development & revenue raising as a private venue were major factors in the success of the venue and that many 2000 Olympic venues closed due to one of these reasons. The Olympic legacy, building social and economic capital are my passions and finding solutions through Urban Planning is the way forward.

however until then (and despite vowing I would never coach at elite level), I work casually with the Australian Canoe Slalom Team and will continue to work for them as I really enjoyed it. I started ‘My Fitness Mentor’ as a project as I have allot of knowledge I can share. Overall my aim is to improve the physical & mental performance of all my clients whether they are elite athletes or people rekindling there fitness journey.

I am a town planning professional based in Rockhampton, QLD. My particular interest is in planning law, statutory planning, strategic planning and comparative planning. You are welcome to my blog and please feel free to leave any comments or to contact me for further discussions.